[Ads-l] squad bay

[Jonathan Lighter]

Am amazed that this standard Marine Corps term appears in neither OED nor
MW.

The meaning is "a barracks area for the bunks and lockers of enlisted
troops."

[1943 Rowland Vance _They Made Me a Leatherneck_ (N.Y.: Norton) 44:
Swabbing down the deck in our squad's bay.]

1948 _Schenectady Gazette_ (Nov. 9) 2 [GenealogyBank]: The scene shows a
section of one squad bay of the barracks.

1949 _Leatherneck_ (Nov.) 5 [Internet Archive]:  Awright, you people, get
hot on the squad bay! Sweep and swab!

1953 _Stamford Advocate_ (July 15) 3 [GenealogyBank]: He entered his
squad-bay and tried to feel his way to his bed in the dark.

1955 _Wilmington [N.C.] Morning Star_ (June 12) 4 [GenealogyBank]:  The
Marine walked into the squad bay of the Second Medical Battalion.

And many, many times since.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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